Bride of Thor
by Serenitychan13
Summary: It's six years later and Thor is having issues. Back on Earth, so is the young woman he released from Asgard. But he told her when she left to expect meeting him again. And as a prince and god, he cannot forget his promise when she calls to him for help.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: **_**In case you haven't read any of my other works and perhaps find me delusional, I should tell you something: I don't own this stuff. I own anybody you don't recognize from Norse mythology or Marvel or whatever. Basically, I own the main character and a few extras. Thor's not mine. None of the gods are mine, as much as I can wish…**_

Prologue

_Fast forward six years… _

Maria Barsi stared into the mirror with the lights around it, tuning out her bandmates as they did whatever to get ready. For some reason, she had been in a thinking mood today. And thinking moods always got the better of her, taking her back to the one night she almost wished was a dream. She shook her head and reached for her eyeliner, drawing a cat-eye line across her left eye.

Her ears perked up at the sound of rain hitting the metal roof of tonight's venue. It had started to rain. For some reason, she always felt that she performed better when it was raining, even storming outside. She hadn't ever let herself think of that night in explicit terms, not since the first few days after. It was just one of those things she kept in her head – everybody had secrets. Rolling her eyes, she steadied her hand and fixed her right eye with cat-eye liner.

"Maria! We're on in fifteen!" yelled one of her bandmates. "You've been in there for half an hour, what the hell are you doing!"

"Nothing you need to know about!" she called back, her voice automatically going higher-pitched and taking a flirtatious tone. "I'll be out in a minute!"

They were all-right guys, the fellas she sang with. They'd all been out of school for about a year now, put together their band in senior year. All of them shared an interest in the old jazz standards, Frank Sinatra, and old movies. The group, calling itself The Fitzgerald Storm, had taken on a 1940s/post-war image.

She dressed like a pin-up girl and sang lead. Her best male friend, David, played the piano and occasionally sang a duet with her. He was a baritone with some exceptionally high notes in his range, like Dean Martin. Jamie played guitar – occasionally he'd take up a clarinet, despite the abundance of complaints. And Bing, whose real name was Dwayne Arthur and he hated it, played drums and could blow a trumpet like no other. They all had their quirks, but managed to work well as a group. Together, the four of them had approached a few different venues and they had cobbled together something like a tour.

Tonight, they were playing an old warehouse-type place that some people had converted into a club. It was a rockabilly-themed night. The Fitzgerald Storm had rehearsed earlier in the day and arrived about an hour ago. David and Jamie set everything up and the guys checked their instruments. Maria had tested out her voice and was pleased with the space. The guys had turned up dressed already, but she had to change.

In her duffel bag, she had a couple of dresses, but she picked the red and white cream striped one. Struggling into it, so as not to disturb her hairstyle, she pulled the skirt down and adjusted the top. Her garter belt dug into her skin, so she yanked at it for a minute. How did ladies back then dress like this every day! She'd always wondered that. Nothing she had ever worn was as comfortable as the pretty lavender dress she kept in the back of her closet.

Her friend Becca had seen it when the two girls were going through Maria's closet, trying to find her a beginning performance wardrobe. The other girl had been so curious about it. For as long as it had been in the closet, the dress had a unique smell. No, it had a _scent _to it. Becca said it smelled like it was like the dress was made on the moon! Maria had laughed and called Becca a silly Sailor Moon fangirl, and shouldn't she be practicing instead of reading fics?

Maria leaned close to the mirror, listening to the rain as she overdrew her lip line just a bit, like they had in the '40s. Maybe that was why she had been thinking so much lately – fishing through the closet with Becca. After fixing her mascara, she batted her eyelashes at the mirror. Right now was not the time to go all introspective and start thinking about what happened years ago. Sighing, she reached for her blush and put some roses in her cheeks. She had been a little pale today, so she added more than usual. Then she slapped on another coat of brick-red lipstick, just in case.

She had to bring herself back to the real world. Giggling, she told herself she had to come out of her closet. Giving herself a little shake, she studied herself in the mirror, looking for anything that might need improvement. In less than ten minutes, she had to be out there looking perfect.

* * *

"Maria!" David groused, banging on the dressing-room door with his fist. He leaned heavily on the door frame. "Quit being such a girl and get out here! We're on in five fucking minutes!"

He had taken her out to dinner the night before and he was pissed right the hell off. Maria had totally just friend-zoned him. And after all this time! He had practically taught her how to sing in a band. She wouldn't have this band or be worth a damn without all he had done for her! And she had fucking dodged him when he tried to kiss her and just said thank you and good night!

"I'll be out in a sec!" replied that stupid fake flirty voice.

She really did know how to use guys, didn't she?

"'ay fella, you ready?" asked Bing, flipping his drumsticks around because he could. He affected a strange combination of accents, something like Irish with a touch of eastern European. "And what the hell's wrong with you"

David shrugged and folded his arms across his chest, glaring at the chipping paint on the dressing-room door.

"It's just Maria," he said dismissively. She could probably hear him, but she probably didn't care. "You notice she's been kind of a bitch lately?"

Bing tilted his head – he could be a bit femme sometimes and scrunched his face deliberately in thought.

"Nah, we had lunch a few days ago and she seemed all right," he said, driving his inflection up at the end of his sentence, to make it like a question. "Why?"

David bristled at first – what had she been doing having lunch with Bing and then letting him take her out to dinner? Bing lifted a curious eyebrow at him. Had something happened between the two of them? Nah, there was no way in hell. Bing was about as clueless about that kind of thing as humanly possible. David was about to answer when Jamie came round the corner, scratching his head – the guy probably used too much hairspray again.

"Have you guys seen a page three from 'As Time Goes By' floating around?" he asked, flicking through a large, dirty black binder. The other two looked at him like he had grown a second head. "I took my score out to reorganize and my page three went missing."

Oh, well he was always losing things, David thought. Maria said a few times that she had a soft spot for the clarinet. Hell, that was probably why she friend-zoned him – she had to be screwing Jamie, that was all! Bing turned out to have the spare page three, so that got resolved rather quickly. Then Jamie looked at the closed dressing-room door.

"Is Maria still in there?" he asked, his voice concerned, raising his hand in case he needed to knock as well. "It's been forever."

David looked at Jamie, sizing him up.

"Something going on with you two?" he asked bluntly.

Jamie stared, his hair falling to the side again – no amount of hairspray could fix that for some reason.

"Nah man, we've just been out shopping a couple times," he said with a shrug. Then, to defend himself, he added, "They don't make much of our kind of stuff in my size."

The guys ignored that last comment. David turned back to the door and was about to give it a couple more solid thumps when it opened. Maria sidestepped his hand and smiled at her bandmates. Bing bowed like he was in a Robin Hood movie or something – he did things like that sometimes. Jamie smiled back, a touch too hopefully in David's opinion.

"Ready to go?" asked Maria, her long hair pinned up at the back of her neck in an imitation of a '40s swing style. "We're starting out with 'Fly Me to the Moon' tonight, right?"

Her bandmates provided general assent and they headed for the stage, straightening up hair and sheet music. David hung back, watching her laugh with Jamie and Bing as they walked along. Her heels clacked on the floor, skirt swinging round her knees. For some reason, that caused David to realize how much smaller she was than him or either of the other guys. He picked up his music folder and followed the other three.

* * *

It was not only mortal men who watched Maria Barsi that night. A viewing portal in Asgard had been open for some time. The god of thunder felt himself in a brooding state of mind tonight. As a result, the storms started in the heavens and on Earth. Winds swirled in places he had never been, while thunder and lightning plagued the humans below.

He felt a sense of loneliness that had lasted for a fortnight. No maiden in the harem or goddess in the palace could bring him satisfaction. He had fought a full three days with the heroes of Valhalla. The Valkyrie Brunhilde led the opposing side. When he bested her in all ways, he still felt unsatisfied. So for two days straight, he drank the strongest mead until his vision swam. The amount it took to leave a god sprawled on the Hall floor would kill five human men.

So, irritable and fighting the closest thing to a hangover a god could feel, Thor stared into the viewing portal, scanning the faces of Earth. He visited the work of Jane Foster, smiling at the progress she and the good doctor achieved. But something had him moving on from that. Jane had her own special qualities, but lacked _something _he sought at the moment. He couldn't place what it might be as he watched the streets of New York teem with people. Central Park and Grand Central Station had been repaired, as far as he could tell. Closing his eyes, he asked the portal to show him what he truly desired.

And it gladly obliged. With a shimmer, it showed him a rainy night in a place called Atlanta. The streets were crowded with people in strange garments, some oddly-colored, some just in assorted pieces of clothing. Several of these people had hair colors that did not occur in Earth's nature. Others had many pieces of metal in their faces and bodies.

The front of the building he saw had a dirty façade with bright pink and turquoise neon lights, proclaiming it to be the "Star Lounge." People in more odd clothing crowded in the propped-open doors. Across the street was a strange building with an entrance built to look like a skull with flaming eyes. Humans did such ridiculous things, thought the god.

Then the viewing portal switched its view into the interior of the Star Lounge. A battered set of furniture… Everything with chipped paint… It did not look like a very happy or well-kept place. There were a few people there – three young men, two men a bit older – very big with long hair like Viking warriors. A woman in leather trousers ran about with a clipboard. Thor lifted an eyebrow, wondering why the portal had shown him these people. It shifted back to the three younger men, its edges shimmering.

But then, it found the one that could satisfy the particular need of the God of Thunder.

A young mortal woman named Maria. It appeared that she had cut her long hair short and affixed a large red flower at her left ear. She wore a short… gown? With red and cream-colored stripes, it sat very well against her suntanned skin. Her lips were painted brilliantly red and black lines framed her eyes. He found himself very interested in the black seams up the backs of her legs. The same long, graceful nails tipped her fingers. Thor's gaze softened as he gazed upon her face again.

Back on Earth, it rained harder and the wind picked up its speed.


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **_**How many of you actually skip to the second chapter of a fan fiction and, if you don't see a disclaimer, actually think the author is delusional enough to believe that he/she owns the fandom? I mean, they might OWN that fandom in the popular sense of the word, as in "I OWN that shit!" but they aren't crazy enough to think they legally own it. Capisce?**_

Chapter 1

The night had gone very well. At first, the crowd had been a little dead – they had expected more in the way of loud guitar. But they had warmed to the music of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and the Gershwin brothers. Several couples had taken the floor and started to dance.

A blonde fellow in a bomber jacket, white T-shirt, and out-of-date trousers had stretched up his hand and asked for a dance. David had taken the mike on Cole Porter's "So in Love" while Maria did a foxtrot with the guy. He introduced himself as Rogers and thanked her kindly. Bing positively rocked his trumpet solo for the bridge of "Cheek to Cheek." And Jamie led beautifully into "Makin' Whoopee" with his clarinet.

After the set, they had gone out into the crowd for a few minutes to meet people and do some pictures. The Rogers guy approached Maria again, smiling shyly. This time, he seemed apprehensive as he asked her if she'd have a drink with him. She smiled and agreed to let him buy her a glass-bottle Coke, to which he obliged with blush in his cheeks. When the two of them finished, he'd excused himself with "Thank you, it's been my pleasure, ma'am."

Now the four of them had taken down their instruments and were resting and packing things away before they left. Maria collapsed into a moldy-looking armchair in a very unladylike fashion and propped her heels on a crate. There had been so much smoke in the lounge that she needed to breathe a minute. David glared at her from the couch that had one brick for a leg, a drink compliments of the lounge in his hand.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked him.

He'd been caught… had to make something up.

"Nothing," he said, hopefully not too defensively.

Jamie, dropping the 'bullet' end of a cleaning cloth through his clarinet and pulling it through, looked over at the two of them, a bourbon and Coke in hand.

"So who was that guy who asked you to dance?" he asked, having been exceptionally puzzled when David took over for a clearly female song. "Did you know him or something?"

Maria shook her head, scratching under a cluster of pins in the back.

"Nah, but he was cute!" she giggled, blushing and tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "I think he was military maybe – had dog tags. And he was such a gentleman!"

David scowled, finished his drink in one gulp, and returned to pretending to tune his guitar. Bing had his drumsticks out once more, flipping them around in ways that it seemed only he could, a Killian's bottle sticking out of each of his many pockets. That kid had problems, David grumbled mentally. He reached into his guitar case and found his flask, taking a couple of solid swigs from it. Straight Bacardi 151 – he wanted to be smashed for the rest of tonight. He might end up doing something he didn't want to remember. Jamie, as much as he claimed to hate the instrument, cleaned his clarinet end to end with love in his eyes.

Maria looked around at her bandmates in borderline astonishment as she always did after a performance. She could hardly believe they were getting paid for this… They were in the tiny minority of music grads who went on to be what could honestly be called 'professionals."

"I'm gonna step outside for a sec, okay?" she said to all of them, but none in particular. They nodded back at her. "Need to clear my throat."

And she got up and headed for the back exit. David watched her go with burning, jealous eyes. Thankfully, the door wasn't rigged to an alarm or anything, because it took a solid kick to get it open. She stepped into the dirty, cement space behind the building. It was really an alley, but had been boxed in by a couple of dumpsters. Broken glass littered the area. Standing under the awning out back, she took a deep breath. The moist air felt good on her smoke-raw throat. Then she scrunched her nose at the smell coming from the dumpsters.

She sang the first few bars of "Catch a Falling Star" softly to herself as she stared up at the rain, content to just let time go by for a while. Today had just been a thinking kind of day. And apparently the thinking wasn't going away just because the sun went down. Sighing again, she went over to lean against the brick wall. Closing her eyes and breathing for a moment or two, she didn't notice someone else come out the broken door.

"Hey…" said a slurred voice. "I need to talk to you."

Frowning, Maria opened her eyes and looked around to find David leaning on the wall opposite her. He didn't look so good. The eye makeup he wore onstage had melted off, giving him a dark, unkempt, raccoon-like appearance. It wasn't like this was the first time she'd seen him after a drink or two. Hell, she usually played the responsible part and dragged his stupid ass home!

"David, you've been drinking," she said slowly, folding her arms across her chest and leaning back heavily against the wall. "Whatever you want to talk about, we can talk about tomorrow. I'm in a weird mood right now."

He took another long drink from his flask and stared at her, his eyes really starting to unnerve her.

"That's it, that's just fucking it…" he said, pulling a cigarette from his shirt pocket and lighting it behind his hand. "You're always in a goddamn weird mood…"

Maria scowled at him – he'd been a dick all day and she had no idea why and at this point in the night, she really didn't care anymore.

"Look, you're drunk and I really don't want to talk right now," she told him in a hard voice. "So if you're going to keep being like this, just go and fuck off for tonight, 'kay?"

She moved to go back inside and get away from him, but he shut the door with much more force than necessary. Okay, this was not good. Sure she'd seen him drunk before, but this was the first time she'd ever seen him get aggressive!

"David, for the love of god, quit it," she told him. "I don't know what the fuck your problem is, but leave me out of it. Be a grown-up for once!"

"You know you're my problem," he replied, obviously trying his best to sound romantic and failing miserably.

Maria stared at him.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me…"

David took another drink. Maria wanted to knock the stupid flask out of his hand. He started towards her and she started pulling on the door. Ugh… the dumbass had managed to jam the stupid thing shut! She kicked the door in frustration then yelped out of surprise as David grabbed her arm.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" she yelled at him as he pinned her against the door. "Get off me!"

"Hey, what's going on?" yelled Jamie's muffled voice on the other side of the jammed-up door. "Maria? Is David out there?"

"Yes! And if you can… get out here, like, NOW!" Maria shouted back.

She didn't have time to deal with stupid questions! David used the momentary distraction to his advantage. Pushing one arm against the door, he tried to cup her chin gently, but it didn't quite work, so he just mashed his lips on hers. It lasted for two seconds before a fist connected with the side of his head. He reeled back to see Maria sucking on her knuckles. Her eyes blazed at him.

"I'll forget you did that just now – you're drunk, I get it." Her voice had dropped dangerously into her chest. "But you had better walk away from me right the fuck now."

"David!" Jamie's voice sounded less concerned and more… angry now. "What are you doing!"

"Stay out of this!" David slurred, grabbing Maria's arms and pinning them against the door. She kicked his shins in retaliation, but he was still bigger than her by a good bit. "You… you've been taking advantage of me."

Maria kept kicking the bones of his shins, hoping to drive her heel into his skin or something like that. But that much Bacardi 151 had a way of making a man rather impervious to pain. She could hear Jamie yelling on the other side of the door, could feel him banging on it. He called Bing and soon she could hear both men's upset voices.

"You make me be so fuckin' nice to you…" David continued, now pressing his body up against Maria's and making her almost gag. "I've been your _best friend _since sophomore year! I did _everything _for you!"

She brought her knee up in an attempt to nail him in the junk, but he pushed his body against hers harder.

* * *

In Asgard, blue eyes hardened in the beginnings of rage. Thor had seen Maria in the viewing portal a few times before. She had liked this man, trusted him! Now, he himself knew she liked it rough… but the man had obviously crossed a line. The portal did not have sound, so the scene played out like some sick pantomime: first, she had come out alone. Then the other had followed – one didn't need to be a Viking god to see he had been drinking. They had argued, and then he got aggressive.

But the All-Father, Odin, had warned Thor when he was very young that, no matter how much a god might care, he couldn't interfere. Whole worlds could be lost with that kind of misplaced protective attitude. Sure, he _could _get down there in a matter of moments, but his father's words kicked him in the head. What true good would it do? How much destruction would it cause for a god of old to come crashing down there?

_But how much did he want to rip that young man apart? _

From the images shown to him in the portal, it seemed Maria was able to hold her own. His cheeks twitched and he smiled as the soft building light flashed on her nails. Quick as a lightning strike, she had torn skin and the young man backed away from her, clutching his face. However, he was apparently drunk enough that the strike had merely surprised him.

His fist flew faster than her hand and connected solidly with her cheek. Maria stood still for a moment, looking shocked. She tried to pull the battered door open, unwilling to fight a friend. He took hold of her hair, and Thor watched as Maria obviously let out a yell. But her elbow caught the young man in the side and knocked the wind out of him briefly.

She tried to break past him and make for the alley they stood in, but couldn't get far as he took hold of her skirt. The young man had apparently tried to change his approach. He reached out and put his arms around Maria – it looked like now he was trying to talk to her. Her expression said she wanted to hear none of it. Thor watched her face, but couldn't make out what she had said in response.

The young man tried to kiss her again, Maria trying her best to push him away but having no luck. His lips crashed onto hers and blood flowed – Thor couldn't be sure who had bitten whom, but he would like it was her. Such spirit… His hands clenched on either side of the portal. He wondered why didn't just walk away – it was not his place, as a god, to pull them apart.

Then he tilted his head at the vision the portal showed him.

Two other men had showed up in the space behind the building. They looked familiar, though he had seen them less often than the first one. One had brown hair and rolled-up trousers. The other just looked… odd – bottles sticking out of his pockets and a bizarre streak of color in his hair. Both looked as though they had been drinking as well, though not near as heavily. They confronted the first man together. The one with the brown hair looked angry while the odd one looked more confused than anything.

Maria seemed grateful for their presence, using the opportunity to kick away from the first man. Strangely enough, it was the odd one she ran to – it didn't look like he could protect a mouse from a cat! Apparently, in her current state, she looked to the one who presented less of a threat. The brown-haired one, on the other hand, took hold of her arm. She looked confused and upset by this, asking him something Thor could not hear.

The brown-haired man said something to the first man, his hand still on Maria's arm. She did not look at all pleased by what he said. Pulling her arm away from his hand, she stepped closer to the odd one and said something else. Now the odd one looked upset. Maria's eyes went wide and she started trying to back away from all three men. The way the other two had come in was now blocked, so her only option was getting the door back open.

It wasn't working. With the rain, the wood had swollen and it looked like all of them trying the knob had broken it. Maria's face had turned desperate – it seemed what the first drunk one had somehow turned the other two on her. Well, at least the brown-haired one. The strange one looked more hurt than he did angry, but that could easily go badly too.

Yes, the brown-haired one had taken her arm again. Peculiarly, for as possessive as the first man had been, he made no move to stop this. Even when the brown-haired man slid one of the straps of Maria's short gown off her shoulder… She glared, baring her teeth at him and correcting the strap quickly. But now she had two pairs of hands on her. The odd one stood off to the side, seemingly unsure of what to do.

"_Coward…_"Thor growled between clenched teeth.

The two men seemed like they were almost an even match for her – both parties, the men and Maria, seemed to be getting good strikes in. But four hands, her friends' hands, might have been too much for her. Thor watched her face as the two continued to try doing wrong with her. She covered herself with her arms, still attempting to kick one or the other of them. The odd one had backed away, leaning against a large green metal container. His face was a mixture of horror, uncertainty, and sick satisfaction.

Maria looked up to the sky. Her words couldn't be clearer.

_"Help me…"_


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **_**I don't own anything but my own issues – and there's more of those than National Geographic. Please just assume that the Walt Disney Company owns any and all characters from the known universe. I'm pretty sure they secretly rule the world anyway. Not mine – don't sue.**_

Chapter 2

Okay, this had officially gone far past the point of drunken stupidity. Maria had heard of things like this happening. Guys got butt-hurt because the girl decided she just wanted to be friends. But wasn't this kind of thing supposed to happen when she started 'dating a jerk'? She threw another desperate punch, connecting with Jamie's rib cage. Ugh… this made her sick. Nobody should have to do this! Up until like fifteen minutes ago, these guys had been her best friends in the world!

"Jamie! David!" she yelled again, wincing as somebody's hand – she thought it was David's, tangled in her hair, yanking several pins out. "Okay, I'm sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen! Stop! You guys are my friends!"

"Yeah, that's what every girl says," growled Jamie, his voice uncharacteristically low. "You just let nice guys think you'll fuck then you go all 'oh, I just wanna be friends' when he wants you to give a little back."

She bit Jamie's hand viciously, but then couldn't tell which one of them hit her.

"Yeah, what would it have hurt?" David asked, slurring worse than ever now. "Just say yes once in a while!"

"I don't recall you ever asking!" Maria retaliated, bringing her knee up and making contact with his rib cage. She tried to twist in their hold, appealing to Bing, if he could be counted as a bystander. "Bing! Did I ever act like I was going to sleep with you?"

The slightly-femme guy blinked owlishly at her, playing with one of the beer bottles in his coat-pocket.

"Well, I dunno…" he said slowly, twirling the bottle like a drumstick. "You did change clothes in front of us a lot. Then, it's like… you got all modest an' whatever, changing in the closet or the bathroom or something."

Maria wrenched one arm free of Jamie's grip and drove the back of her fist into his jaw.

"We're professionals now!" she yelled, twisting frantically. "It doesn't _look good _to change in front of you – it _looks _like I'm sleeping with the whole band!"

"And what would be wrong with that?" asked Jamie, trying to be… nicer? "We're in a band – aren't we supposed to share everything?"

David twisted her left arm behind her, putting her at a great disadvantage for being left-handed.

"Yeah, it's not like you'd ever have been going without," he told her. "All you'd have to do is ask."

Maria bit down hard into David's arm, feeling skin break and tasting blood is it seeped up between her teeth. She wasn't sure how long she could keep this up, physically or mentally. Feeling a hank of hair pull out as she twisted her neck away from Jamie's grip, she stared at the broken door. Surely somebody inside would have noticed a disturbance out back by now? Wouldn't they need the band to pack up and leave about now? But she didn't hear anyone trying to mess with the door.

The two bigger, stronger guys had about gotten the better of her.

"Hey Bing!" called David, turning her around so she faced the third member of what had been her band. "Why don't you come tell Maria what you always wanted to tell her?"

Bing looked like he had just experienced a jolt back to reality – that guy _was _always off in his own little world! The femme young man approached and kept twirling the beer bottle in his hand. Okay, now that had really started to get a little unnerving. Maria stared up at Bing, hoping he'd be the one to do the right thing… if he could. There was no question that both Jamie and David were bigger and stronger than him.

"Bing, if I hurt you, I'm so sorry," she told him, hoping she could cut him off before he got angry. "Just tell me whatever it is you need to tell me and then we'll fix it, okay?"

His face, however, darkened in anger.

"I'm tired of you treating me like I'm one of your girlfriends!" he exploded, clamping a hand over his mouth as if he'd just let slip some secret.

Jamie snorted and David laughed out loud, holding Maria fast and continuing to touch her – it seemed to get Bing even more riled up.

"You barely even know I'm a man and even if I did tell you I wanted you…" his voice trailed off, but then he shouted, "You'd probably just laugh in my face!"

"Wow, Bing has a cock?" David asked Jamie, the two of them descending into obscene laughter again. "I never knew!"

Bing had started to go exceptionally red in the face and all three struggling people startled at the sound of breaking glass. He had thrown the beer bottle at the ground very close to where his three friends stood. And he had another one in his hand, plus the ones sticking out of various pockets. Jamie and David pushed Maria forward hard. She overbalanced and landed on her knees. Her stockings tore on the broken glass from the brown bottle.

"Bing, please stop…" she said softly, hoping to appeal to him one last time – he didn't appear as drunk as the other two. "You're better than this!"

Instead, his eyes flashed almost like hers tended to do.

"Why? Because you don't think of me as a guy?" he accused, with his voice low and harsh. "Because you just see me as 'one of the girls' – is that why you let me stay with you that time?"

David and Jamie balked and rounded on Maria.

"She did what?" growled David, taking hold of her hair again. "When were you gonna tell _us _about that, huh? You've been sleeping with _this _guy the whole time?"

Maria shook her head as best she could.

"We slept in the same bed! That's all, I swear!" she yelled, fixing her hand around David's wrist, trying to wrench his hand out of her hair. "We didn't do anything! For fuck's sake, we were watching Disney movies!"

She had started to cry, black makeup pouring down her face and her lipstick smeared on both sides.

"Yeah, because she doesn't even think I'm a guy!" Bing all but screamed back, his eyes wild and frightening. A second bottle splintered beside Maria's right knee, spraying her with glass slivers. Then, for the first time, Bing reached for her, taking hold of the front of her dress. "You think all I want to do is be your little bitch, don't you!"

Maria's eyes widened – she had never actually seen Bing angry and it terrified her beyond the physical threats of the other two.

"Bing, if that's the impression you got, I didn't mean it!" she cried, clawing at his hand. "I really thought you liked Disney movies and I trusted you not to try anything… I thought we were friends!"

She had sunk into hysterics, now swiping in futility at anyone who touched her. Three pairs of hands had taken free run of her body and she wasn't even sure whose were where anymore. When one hand went too far up her leg, she gave a sharp kick – it was David's voice that grunted in pain. Jamie had both her arms behind her back, trying to push her down onto the dirty cement. Struggling hard, she managed to get one of her knees out from under her.

"I really don't want to hurt you…" she told Bing, tears still streaming down her face. "Please just let go. All of you, _let go!_"

Bing spat on her – actually fucking _spat _on her. Anger overtook her and she kicked out, nailing Bing hard in the chest. He doubled over, having immediate trouble breathing. Jamie twisted her right arm harder. Twisting about again, she wondered if she might still be able to kick over her head. It had been a while…

But she managed it. Instead of catching Jamie in the face, she hit his neck with the toe of her shoe, causing him to drop her. However, David still had a decent hold on her left wrist and threw an arm round her neck. This throttled her momentarily, leaving him able to throw her, gasping, to the ground. Glass scratched through her dress, even with it being thick jersey cotton.

And before she could right herself, Jamie was on top of her, rasping breath in her ear. She tried and tried to push him off. His hands kept going up her legs, over snagged and ripped stockings. But then he ran into an obstacle – thank every god in every universe ever for garter belts, thought Maria! He couldn't figure out how he was supposed to get the thing off her!

However, David had it figured out faster. Maria struggled harder when she heard the _snik_ sound of a knife being flipped open. Oh fuck that! They were NOT wrecking the one garter belt she could find that fit! Twisting her waist back and forth as hard and fast as she could wasn't helping. The knife caught one of the garter straps, but couldn't snap it. Apparently, the idiot hadn't sharpened it in a while – and that had been a birthday present from her!

But with both David and Jamie pressing her to the ground, Bing had full access to her. He didn't seem to notice the garter belt (always had been something odd about that guy) but he did try to rip her panties off her. He had a bit of broken glass in his hand, brown from one of the beer bottles. The knife didn't really scare her at this point… but broken glass was something else. She kicked, now screaming "Help!" over the pouring rain. Even if she couldn't physically do more, maybe she could catch someone's ear.

Her frightened eyes lit up as lightning split the sky.

Thunder followed.

* * *

Thor had seen enough.

His anger waxed hot and both hands clenched hard enough to crack the sides of the viewing portal's edge. These men had gone too far and, Odin's word or not, Maria had called out for help. He watched her face – anyone who looked could clearly see her screaming the word 'help' over and over. Seeing as no one else seemed able to hear her, Thor found himself with a promise to keep.

"No one touches a maiden under the protection of Thor and lives," growled the god, storming away from the room full of viewing portals. "These men shall pay tenfold for their crimes if I have anything to say about it!"

He continued grumbling to himself as he stalked the halls of the palace of Asgard. Several gods and goddesses either passed him on the other side or quickly excused themselves down opposite hallways. Even his mother found his countenance frightening and decided not to press the point. She was sure to find out about it later, thought Frigga. Thor threw the palace doors open and proceeded out to see Heimdall.

"Greetings, my lord Thor," the passage-god said, his voice still deep and far-away. "Where is it you are bound tonight?"

"Midgard, Heimdall – it is a matter of urgency," Thor answered him. There was a viewing portal beside them; he put his hands on it. Maria still screamed for help, and the young men were past pushing their luck. "This mortal woman is under my personal protection. She is in danger and has called out for my aid. I have sworn to go to her. How soon can you be ready?"

The passage-god's eyebrows knitted together and he tapped his staff on the ground, opening the Rainbow Bridge.

"Immediately, my lord," he replied. "Travel in safety and fulfill your oath, God of Thunder."

With an affirmative grunt and a nod, Thor faced the open passageway. He summoned his hammer – it flew to his hand. Spinning it smartly, he took a deep breath and stepped forward into the swirling, spinning colored abyss.

* * *

In the alley behind the Star Lounge, the scuffle had indeed attracted attention, even over the growing storm. The fellow who had danced with Maria during the show heard something going on. Now he attempted to excuse himself past people to investigate, only to be met by two very large men. They told him the lounge was closed. They didn't believe his story, having left his keys – his face was too honest, they said.

Back in the alley, Maria had almost given up trying to hold off her bandmates. The emotional struggle took a very physical toll. For a long moment, she considered just shutting her eyes until it was all over. It looked like a decent enough alternative – let it happen and then go to the police. The evidence would be fresh; the case would go from there… Nobody would blame her.

"Please… somebody help me," she cried, still trying to claw the three men who had been her best friends for the past five years. "Let me go! Stop it! CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME!"

In front of the lounge, the guy who introduced himself as Rogers argued with the bouncers – he heard something going on. It sounded like it was coming from behind the building and, if it was all the same to them, he'd like to look. They didn't like that he changed his story like that, so they asked him to leave. As quietly as possible – the lounge didn't need any trouble. Pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, Rogers pretended to do just that. There was a small alley that looked like it led to the larger alley out back. He could smell the dumpsters.

Meanwhile, David, Jamie, and Bing had lost their senses entirely – Maria no longer counted as a human person to them. She had become the embodiment, a surrogate for every woman they ever felt wronged by. Mothers, sisters, cousins, ex-girlfriends… They took their rage out on her, with the bonus of her fighting back tooth and nail. In their minds, they weren't _men _if they didn't _win _against her!

They heard the crash.

Sense dawned on them for a second – perhaps someone had heard and called the police? But when they saw no blue lights, heard no sirens… Bah, it was probably just the wind blowing over some trash cans. The storm had really started to pick up, they vaguely noticed. But then they saw the blonde guy standing there – the one who had asked Maria to dance.

"Gentlemen, I don't know what's going on here, but I don't like it," he said in a calm, frank manner. "You fellas been drinking?"

Jamie took a step back – that guy looked kinda big, and he really hadn't intended for anything to go this far.

"Look man, stay out of this." David got argumentative.

Bing looked wild round the eyes, remaining silent.

Then a second figure stepped out from the shadows, opposite them.

"Captain, your presence is no longer required here," said a deep, very authoritative voice.

"Who the hell is that?" yelped Jamie, swinging round to face the newcomer.

David peered hard at the first guy.

"And why'd he call you captain?" he demanded.

"I'm just gonna pretend I didn't see anything…" muttered the guy in the jacket, tucking in his dog tags. "Have at it, fella!"

The second figure stepped fully into the light and all three of them gasped. He was big. He was intimidating. And by crikey, he was _angry._ A cape billowed from his massive shoulders, shining in skin-tight metal. Tightly gripped in his hand, he had a gigantic metal hammer. The rain barely seemed to touch him, but lightning and thunder threatened to tear the sky apart. He continued three steps forward.

Showing a massive lack of brain power, none of the three young men stepped away from Maria. If anything, they looked even more aggressive. The man in the armor glared at them. David was the first to show some apprehension. Jamie blinked one eye at a time, not sure he was really seeing the guy. Bing still looked crazed. The armored giant stepped forward a final time, his hammer drawn.

"All of you… get your hands off my bride."


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **_**Nothing in the Marvel universe belongs to me. I really do get quite tired of writing this same thing over and over in different words… But seriously, I don't claim ownership of any Marvel character and I'd appreciate, you know, not getting sued or whatever.**_

Chapter 3

For a moment, the three young men stood still – none of them felt quite sure enough about anything to react. Jamie shifted, still on top of Maria, to see what this new person might have in store. David had his flask in hand again, his first response tonight to anything being to drink. Bing, whose face had started to tic visibly, flung a beer bottle at the man with the hammer. He dodged it easily and took another step forward.

"The lot of you, stand away," commanded Thor, lightning beginning to crackle round his hammer. "Do this immediately and I shan't kill you as you so deserve!"

They had almost expected his voice to come out as a roar, but he remained deathly calm. His entire being seemed to spark and crack with lightning. Rain poured in torrents from the sky, almost as if propelled by the deafening thunder. The three young men looked at each other… then at Maria… and finally at the man threatening them.

Maria looked up, unable to really see much. She knew she was bleeding – couldn't really be sure where all from. Every part of her body hurt, and she was _tired. _At no point in her life could she remember being so very, very tired; her muscles screamed at the thought of movement. Even her brain seemed to have temporarily gone into standby mode.

It couldn't be real, she figured. It had to be just a policeman… or one of the bouncers. She only wished she were seeing the god of old whom she had, um, _visited _that one night. He was the strongest being she could ever remember encountering, short of that elephant that one time. And she wished it could be him coming to help her instead of just some policeman. What she needed was someone who _cared…_

"Look man…" David seemed to have found his voice.

But Thor would not have it.

"Be silent, boy!" he barked, drawing himself up to his full and most impressive height. Even Jamie, the tallest at 6'2, quailed at the sight. "I am not a man – I am a god and you shall hold your tongue!"

Thunder crashed, sounding so close that Bing put his hands over his ears to try and protect himself. Thor stepped forward and the femme young man broke immediately, mumbling nonsensically to himself as he stumbled from the alley. A coward once would be a coward always, thought Thor. David still stood beside Maria and Jamie had still not moved from atop her.

"Did you not hear me, you wastes of flesh!" he thundered, lightning shooting into the ground from his hammer. "I did command you to stand away from her and, if you do not, I shall not hesitate to make you!"

David took a few shuffling steps back. Jamie seemed to want to shrink into the ground. Both of them looked paralyzed with fear. But at the moment, no consideration or mitigating factors entered the god's mind. They were in direct non-compliance with his command. He took two long strides forward and bent down to one knee. Jamie yelled as Thor's giant hand landed solidly on the back of his neck, picking him up as easily as an old towel.

Thor stood up again, dangling the boy helplessly from his outstretched hand.

"Where I come from, the penalty for what you men have done is death," the god growled, his blue eyes shining with a hate like none seen on earth. He very much considered simply snapping the bastard's neck and being done with it. "_But…_ This is not my world nor is it my place to dispense justice here."

Jamie went limp in the larger man's grip, sighing with relief.

"Justice… and vengeance, however," continued Thor, his grip tightening on Jamie's neck, causing the boy to turn red. "… are two very different things."

David's knee's shook, watching as his friend and bandmate was certainly about to be killed. Jamie's red face had white splotched across it from fear. His brown eyes were wide. He tried to bring his hands up to wrap around the thick wrist, but Thor shook him just enough to make them drop. The god indicated Maria with his outstretched hammer.

"This mortal woman, Maria, is under my personal protection." His voice had dropped into his chest, a combination of aggression and tenderness. "So it _is, _therefore, my place to wreak vengeance for her misfortune tonight."

He reeled the arm bearing Jamie's weight back and flung the boy straight at one of the green dumpsters. There came a sickening crash, and the _crunch _of warping metal. Jamie's body dropped to the cement, near one of Bing's broken beer bottles. Was he alive? Maybe – nobody really cared to check at the moment. Then Thor turned his attention on David, the drunken aggressor who had started this whole mess.

"You," snarled Thor, advancing on David in the most predatory manner possible. "I cannot truly decide which of you three is the worst of the lot. The coward who would kick a woman when she is down? Notice how fast he ran!"

He reached out and, before David could move, seized him by the front of his shirt.

"The opportunist who would go after her when she has been weakened, but not yet downed?" He yanked David clear off his feet and thrust his arm in the direction of where Jamie had been flung. "You see what has happened to him!"

David struggled and kicked, his shirt threatening to rip.

"Hey! You can't… fuck… do this! Put me down!" he shouted, trying to kick Thor in the chest. "You don't know who you're messin' with, ass!"

Thor considered smashing the boy's skull into the concrete so he could never speak blasphemy to a god again… but then he remembered Odin's words.

"Were it my place to dispense justice here on Earth, I would have killed you on sight," he informed the boy, his voice now dangerously calm and low. "But since my purpose in tonight is vengeance, I shall leave you alive…"

It seemed that only a blink passed in the time it took Thor to throw David to the cement, breaking several ribs, and take the mighty hammer to both his knees. Splinters of bone littered the concrete on either side of the boy's mostly-destroyed body – but he would live. His ribs made it difficult to breathe and he seemed to be going into shock from the pain of his shattered knees. Not to mention the tops of his tibia and fibula… and the bottom of each femur…

Then Thor turned away – for as much as he might want to revel in his enemy's defeat, he had another priority. He had been called here because Maria needed help. She still lay on the ground, had not moved since he had pulled Jamie off her. Her eyes, black with makeup and swollen from being hit, were jammed closed, and she bit down on her lip to keep her jaws shut. Surely she could feel Thor's boots approaching. For when he neared to where she lay, her body curled up into itself seemingly of its own accord.

Thor's gaze softened and he knelt beside her. Something deep within his heart twisted. To his mind, she was still as beautiful as the night they had met, only now the same vestigial beauty as a dead bird. Even at her most vulnerable on that night, she had never looked so _delicate_. A gust of wind might break her now… The night calmed: lightning went dim, thunder faded to a whisper… but the rain continued as it had earlier.

"Please, please… _please _don't touch me… Please don't hurt me," Maria stammered in a quiet voice, so low he almost couldn't hear her. "Please go away… Please! Please, leave me alone!"

He did refrain from touching her.

"But I cannot leave you alone," he insisted in his most soothing voice. "I did promise you protection and you called to me."

Maria would not open her eyes. Soaking wet, bleeding from both knees, and curled up on the dirty, waterlogged cement, she couldn't move. This absolutely wasn't real, she decided. If she just stayed here for a little while, not moving, it would all go away. That's how it worked, right?

"Open your eyes," said a once-familiar voice. She shook her head, not really caring what got on her face as a result. But the voice continued, "There is no one who will harm you now."

She opened her eyes just enough that she could see out from under her eyelashes. Thor watched her curiously, restraining his urge to reach for her – she had specifically asked not to be touched at the moment. He fixed his hammer back to his waistband. Seeing that the movement beside her wasn't going away, Maria opened her eyes fully. Then her jaw dropped.

"Let me up…" she sputtered in a mix of surprise and fear and something Thor could not place. "Just… let me get up, okay!"

What the hell! Her thoughts turned frantic. Okay, had she hit her head? There was no way _he_ was really here… She was majorly just projecting this image onto a policeman. But obviously it was time to get the fuck off the ground. Shifting gingerly – damn, every time she moved, she got glass in her skin – she tried it. Gritting her teeth together, her hands met solid ground and she pushed herself up to a crouching position.

Thor wanted to help her, but her eyes flashed at him. With great effort, several swear words, and a few more scratches, Maria drew herself up. For the first time, he realized, the god saw her standing at her full height. He almost had to laugh – she was _tiny_! She couldn't have been 5'3 – more than a foot shorter than him.

He looked her up and down. Indeed, she had not cut her hair; long, wet strands hung down from a pinned-up style that simulated a bob. Her short gown was stained in several places and soaked clean through. From what he had seen in the portal earlier, it had looked good on her… Her stockings were ripped, run, and snagged; showing bloody knees and cuts on her legs. But even in her disheveled, painful state, Maria held her head high.

"It's been a while," she deadpanned, her voice raspy. A bruise had already formed on her left cheek bone. "I think I should thank you…"

Thor shook his head.

"There is no need," he told her, his smile reaching his eyes. "You called to me."

The rain, which had lightened a bit, started to pour again and she looked at him suspiciously. He grinned as if to say "No, that's not me…" Maria took a step towards him, shaking so violently he thought she might fall. But still, at the look on her face, he knew not to reach for her.

"So how've you been?" Maria offered lamely, folding her arms across herself as if she might double over and not looking at him.

Thor shook his head.

"Now is not the time," he said in a low voice.

She nodded back, swiping blood off her lip with the back of her hand.

"Okay, granted." It pained him to hear how her voice seemed to catch in her throat with every breath. "I hate to ask but… can you maybe, I dunno… get me out of here?"

Now, Thor held out his hand. Swallowing hard, Maria took it gratefully, still holding her head up. She refused to let him see her as weak, though anyone who looked could see her struggling to walk. As her heart fluttered in her throat and arms, she felt herself going into shock. Her entire body felt cold, even in the warm summer rain. At any moment, she might throw up. Keeping one hand on hers, Thor wrapped an arm round her shoulders. Taking it slowly, he guided her from the alley.

As soon as they passed the dumpsters, her knees gave out and he had to catch her before she hit the ground.

"I'm gonna be sick…" she groaned.

The next second, Thor stepped away as Maria doubled over and threw up spectacularly behind the dumpster.

"Sorry…"

She looked up at him with pleading eyes, begging him not to somehow hold this against her. Without a word, he took hold of her shoulders and helped her right herself once more. A shaky smile… and she pulled herself straight, holding her body up as a queen might. Thor guided her back out to the main street. A few people glanced at them strangely – guys with armor weren't normal, even here. But unsurprisingly, no one bothered them.

"My car's over this way," Maria volunteered – thankfully, she had kept her purse locked in the back, her keys in her bra.

Thor nodded, now feeling slightly ill himself – he did not have fond memories of being in any vehicle here. And when he saw the car she meant… for the first time, he felt himself wanting to turn around and run! The whole of the vehicle might have been silver at one point. Under the layer of… heaven-knows-what… he couldn't be quite sure. One of the back doors looked more banged up than the others – and it was green. Then, when he stepped round to help Maria in, he saw the gaping hole in the side of the car.

"I kicked that," Maria informed him with a note of pride in her voice.

"Ah."

And he helped her gingerly into the car. She leaned across and swore, poking the 'unlock' button with the end of a pen. The driver's side one had been broken for a while. Thor could barely fit his body into the cramped car's space. It didn't help that the bottom was full of soda cans and bottles. Curled oddly, he tried to continue offering comfort.

"Do you have somewhere safe to go?" he asked her.

"Yeah…"

And anything she might have said after that got lost as she cranked the car and slammed into reverse. Thor wasn't sure if it was possible for a god to become ill in this sort of situation, but it certainly unnerved him! She threw the thing into drive and they rocketed forward out of the parking lot. In the back of her mind, she kept the thought that she could call the lounge in the morning. They were nice, they'd keep hold of the band's stuff. She didn't flick on the air conditioner – it was probably broken anyway, but she did roll the windows down.

"Driving relaxes me," she informed him, trying to relax into her seat.

It didn't quite work with all the glass in the back of her dress. She just wanted to get somewhere and take a shower. After that, curling up and hiding from the world for a while seemed like the thing to do. Past any of this, she had no desire to think about it. She took a hard corner, heading to the interstate.

Thor had never been on a ride quite like this one. Even hurtling through this planet's atmosphere in a little glass-and-metal box… This girl drove like she had no sense of space-reckoning! Hurtling around other cars and peeling around corners, she continued to push forward in traffic. They came to an exit. She cut across three lanes, miraculously clear of traffic.

"There's a place up here," Maria told the rather shaken god, slowing down only a little before slamming on her brakes at the exit's end. She pointed at a Best Western up the street. "Yeah, that's it there."

She gave no warning before smacking the gas pedal and thrusting the car forward into a hard right turn. Thor felt the plastic handle above the side window come away in his hand. He clenched his teeth, fully expecting the car to make sudden contact with a stationary object. But it didn't, shockingly enough… She turned again, this time a bit more carefully so as not to hit an SUV. They had somehow made it into the Best Western's parking lot with no catastrophe.

Maria tried to keep her wincing and hissing to a minimum as she shoved the car door open. Thor took a minute to work out the levers and whatnot, but finally tumbled out of the car. He felt like he had been inside a tin can. Maria hoisted her giant purse over her shoulder, growling at the glass in her clothes. The god followed closely, eager to be away from that… car.

The lady behind the front desk's eyes widened, seeing the pair of them walk in. Maria did her best to stand tall – not letting on that anything might be amiss, despite being dripping wet and sporting still-bleeding cuts and scrapes. Thor had to duck his head to make it in the doorway, one hand on his hammer. Wiping her glasses off, the lady stared determinedly at the computer screen in front of her. No such luck, Maria thought grimly – she marched up and set her purse on the front desk.

"Excuse me, ma'am," she tried to say politely, but her raspy voice made her sound somewhat threatening. "I need a room for tonight, non-smoking please?"

"I can do that." The lady seemed to suppose it was better to just let this one go – of course she'd seen weirder. She looked over Maria's shoulder at Thor. "King bed or two queens?"

Maria shrugged, pulling a piece of glass out of her hair and flicking it away.

"Doesn't really matter," she said, scratching the back of her head. Her voice still gave the sound of a mild threat. "I'm sorry to be like this, but I just really need a shower and a bed, ma'am…"

The lady nodded in understanding, still eyeing Thor beadily.

"I'll need to see identification and a valid credit card, please ma'am."


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **_**Okay, for real. It's not mine. None of the Marvel bits are mine. I own some really awesome flipflops and you can't have them! I am owned by a lovely 13-year-old cat. You can't have her either.**_

Chapter 4

Maria finished up with the lady at the front desk and Thor followed her in the direction she indicated, towards the elevator. The place didn't look bad, Maria decided, nice enough. It didn't have that sort of… moist feeling that some hotels had, even in the air, from too much AC. Thor looked around at the unfamiliar building. Hmm, it seemed to be put together a bit like certain parts of the palace of Asgard. But then they came to the elevator.

Maria pushed a white button the size of a coin. It lit up. Oh yes, an elevator. The machine made a _ding _sound and the metal doors open. He had never enjoyed these either, but Maria stepped into the lifting box part. Anything, right now, would be better than that rattling deathtrap she called a _car! _As Maria preceded him out of the elevator, he felt that anger again.

Her entire back was splattered with grime from the cement, specked with broken glass and stained with blood. Heaven only knew what filth clung to the long strands of her hair. The stockings' seams had gone crooked, but they still drew his attention up the backs of her legs. Even in her current condition, she still had her pride and that lingering spirit.

"We're in room 501," Maria informed him, breaking his train of thought momentarily. "Over here. Huh… looks like it's a handicap room."

And she stuck the little white card in the slot on the door. There was a whirring noise before the _click _that told Maria she could turn the knob. Next second, she let them both in. Thor wasn't sure what she had meant by 'handicap room,' but looked pleased at the sight of the king-size bed. Maria set her purse on the floor and turned to face him.

"You… um… don't have to stay," she said in a low voice, speaking mostly to his boots. "I mean… I'm kind of a mess."

Thor smiled, causing her to blush through the mess on her face and look at a corner of the wall.

"Nonsense," he told her, reaching out to tilt her face up to his as he had done before. "A promise is faint when faintly kept. I have sworn to you protection. I shall stay."

Maria smiled, though her eyes welled up with tears – he brushed a tangle of hair away from her face.

"I have proven my intent, have I?" The self-assurance she remembered in him came back to his face – she nodded, wincing at the crick in her neck. "Excellent. Now, let us get you out of this…"

Surprisingly enough, Maria clamped her hands over her front, staining the front of her dress further with the filth on her arms. This time, Thor could not take her unspoken request not to be touched. He reached out and took hold of her wrists, his hold only firm enough to guide, not force, her arms to her sides. Gently, he slid the straps of her filthy dress down over her shoulders. She cried out and stepped back away from him, though she did not fix the straps.

"I promise, I mean you no harm," Thor assured her, trying again for her dress.

Maria shook her head.

"No, no – it's not that." She turned around for him to see. Thor's eyes darkened in anger again at what he saw. "It hurts…"

Moving the dress had disturbed the shards of beer-bottle and other glass in her skin – he stepped forward and gingerly peeled the dress further down.

"I shall be gentle," his voice caressed her ear. "Is there a place to bathe here?"

Shivering, Maria indicated the bathroom on the left with a nod of her head.

"The shower's in there."

Thor's hands continued to work the dress off of her. Some glass shards remained in her skin. Maria drew in a sharp breath as she heard a knife leave its sheath, but Thor's hand stroked her hair for a moment. Then he reached around and offered her his hand to hold.

"Grip as hard as you need to," he told her. She did as he said, clenching her teeth as he said, "I must warn you, this will hurt."

The dress hit the floor, leaving her standing in a bra, her lucky garter belt, panties, ruined stockings, and black heels. Maria gripped Thor's hand as the point of the knife touched exceptionally tender skin. Well, it made sense that he would know how to treat things like this… the whole 'warrior-god' thing. Still didn't make it pleasant…

As carefully as he could, Thor used the tip of his smallest knife to pick the glass out of her skin. Thankfully, almost none of it was in terribly deep. When each piece came loose, the wound began to bleed again. Soon, the smooth skin of her back ran red with fresh blood. There was one piece in her shoulder, larger than the others, that wouldn't come out on the first pass. He urged her to hold on and, when she did, quickly cut the shard from her skin.

Maria's teeth remained clenched together, trying not to allow a single sound out. Thor smiled, admiring her level of pride. He had seen warriors in the hall of Valhalla who carried themselves with less pride than this spitfire of a mortal woman! He worked his way down her back. In Odin's name! How much glass was there!

'I should have squashed that bottle-chucking insect when I had the chance,' he thought, growling between his teeth.

It seemed that some of the pieces had somehow wound up _inside _her dress instead of going through it. The last bit came out of the center of her back, blood running all the way to her panties. He resisted the urge to run his fingers all the way down her back… That could wait. Now he had to get the rest of these… things off her! And he wasn't entirely sure what most of them were.

The first thing that seemed to be in the way was a set of black straps with metal bits on the ends. And those ends were definitely holding up the remains of her stockings – this much even he could figure out. Now how did the thing come off? The ends looked like they attached with some sort of peg-and-loop closure, with a small peg holding the fabric in the metal loop. The four of those came away easily.

Thor knelt instead of bent to detach the… rather odd closure at her back. One half had rasps while the other had loops. It made a strange sound when pulled apart. Then Maria turned to face him, one arm across her chest and the other covering her lower regions. Her stockings had fallen down around her knees without garters. As he looked up at her, she searched his face carefully – what was she looking for? He couldn't tell.

The thought of this should be repulsive to her – letting someone undress her after what had just happened, Maria thought. But somehow, comfortable or not, she felt as if she should let him. It didn't feel wrong, and probably nothing was going to feel right for a while, if she thought realistically. But either way, in his clear blue eyes, she saw nothing that she could mistrust. He had promised not to harm her before… had come to her aid for no other reason than because she asked.

"I waited for you, you know." Now was as good a time as any to tell him. "Every thunderstorm…"

At first, he acted as if he had not heard her, taking her shoes carefully off and helping her out of the ruined stockings. She tried to cover herself again, now in only a white bra and panties. Slowly, Thor stood, drawing himself up to his full height. Both his hands tilted her face up to his. Rain pelted the windows. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled not-so-distantly. He looked so deeply into her eyes that she _felt _it.

"Truly, I was with you in every thunderstorm."

It might have just been the overwhelming emotions of the night in general, or it could be that her brain had shut off… Whatever it was, she didn't care at the moment. She lifted onto her toes and threw her arms around his neck. For a second, they both looked surprised. Was she really about to kiss him? Thor grinned at her, in both self-assurance and affection. Maria looked away, feeling like a complete whore.

"I have told you before," Thor practically purred, turning her face back to his. "You have no need for shame."

Her eyes lit up as he remembered they did – even with the filth on her face, she smiled brilliantly at him.

"And now, a bath," he announced… but then he balked.

What was that thing on her upper body and how did it come off? Maria seemed to understand without words. She turned away and reached behind her, fiddling with the hooks of her bra momentarily. Thor's eyebrows both went up – so that's what that thing did! It hit the floor beside her dress. Their hands met on her hip as she moved to get rid of her panties. The god stepped back and allowed her to undress finally for him. Maria looked up at him again, blushing and trying to cover herself.

Thor did not bother to correct her on her seeming embarrassment, merely began shedding his own clothing. His armor hit the floor in a clanking heap, joined quickly by his shirt. Maria couldn't help staring. Smirking at her, he scuffed out of his boots, nudging them aside. She covered her face with her hands, blushing madly, as he shoved down his trousers and stepped out of them.

"Keep your eyes closed," he commanded, all of this now feeling familiar to both of them.

He lifted her into his arms, feeling her blood leak onto his skin. She winced and shuddered at the contact with her injuries, but refused to make a sound. Her eyes remained closed, not hiding her face against his shoulder as before. Now that she had him to hold her, it was almost okay to relax. But her shoulders wouldn't let her – was one of them dislocated? Either way, she remained in a lot of pain. She felt herself being moved, heard a door shut, and smiled secretly.

"Can you stand, my dear?" Thor's voice broke into her thoughts. She nodded, and he told her, "It will be only a moment."

What he meant was _it'll be as long as it takes me to figure out how to work this thing…_ And he stared at the fixtures in the bath tub. He understood that water was supposed to come out of one or both of these metal bits. But how did he make that happen? Obviously, Maria had either sneaked a look or could guess what he was doing…

"It's usually the knob in the middle," she told him. "Twist it."

Yes, there was indeed a knob in the middle of the nearest wall with markings on a dial in the center. Thor reached out and gave the knob a solid twist. Nothing happened. So he twisted it to the other side. When still nothing happened, he pushed it, again to no avail. Determined not to let a mortal device best his mind, he pulled it. This time, he had to seriously control himself to keep from jumping at the sudden explosion of water from the lower metal bit.

"Okay, I'm cold," Maria informed him. He swung around, finding her standing there with her hands on her hips, eyes still closed, but appearing to roll her eyes. "Let me fix it."

And, keeping her eyes closed, she reached out to find a wall or something to guide her – somehow, the situation had turned funny again. Her hand found his shoulder, so she went with it. He helped her find the knob. The bath-to-shower switch-thing had to be there someplace. Okay, she was just going to look – she wouldn't peek at him, she promised herself. Yeah, it was on top of the bathtub faucet, so she pulled it up, causing steaming water to explode from the shower.

"There, that worked," she announced. She looked up – at his _face!_ – and gave a shy grin. "Can I… have a minute?"

"Shall I excuse myself?" asked Thor, one eyebrow quirked – he wasn't going to comment on her opening her eyes… yet.

Her face turned bright red and she nodded meekly.

"It's just for a sec, but … yeah!"

Thor looked her up and down.

"Very well," he agreed. "When you are ready, let me know."

Maria, still covering herself, stepped into the shower, not getting her hair wet, and pulled the curtain closed. Gritting her teeth, she waited until she heard the door close firmly before letting out a harsh sigh at the hot water hitting her. Every inch of her skin fucking hurt… Open cuts, textured scrapes, and sore muscles compounded on her and, for a second, she thought she might faint. But getting down to business, she had to find the damn shampoo.

She yanked the rest of the pins out of her head and shook the length of her hair down her back. The conditioner sat neatly in the soap dish, so she poured about half the mini-bottle into her hand and worked it into the ends. Her fingernails helped in the de-tangling process. Really, all things considered, the damage to her hair didn't seem to be all that bad.

Finding the shampoo, she used only about a quarter of the bottle and applied it to the crown of her head. Scrubbing with nails and fingertips, she worked out all the hairspray from earlier. Thankfully, she really only _needed _to wash to the edges of her hairline. Her stomach turned as she watched the filth from the alley hit the white shower floor. It wasn't until it hit hot water that she really got to experience how bad that stuff really smelled. A combination of skunk-ass beer and the liquid of leaky garbage… Sniffling, she tried her best to hock quietly to get the remnants of dinner out of her nose. She hated throwing up…

Then it was time to use the rest of that bottle of conditioner. She smoothed this along the ends, and then up the full length. Combing through it with her fingers had always soothed her when she was upset. Soon enough, the entire length of her hair hung, soaked through and straight, three inches past her hips. Then, she leaned out of the shower. Okay, how to let her know she was ready… She chucked the empty conditioner bottle at the bathroom door.

Next moment, it opened.

"Close your eyes again, if I am to take it you are ready for me," he growled playfully. "And do not think I forgot…"

His only answer was the curtain making a _whoosh _sound as she closed it. So he entered, closed the door and shut it behind him. Steam had already obscured the mirror entirely and fogged visibility somewhat. So apparently this woman enjoyed her baths exceptionally hot… But then he realized – the bathing tub was not full! What was going on here? He approached the closed curtain, trusting that her eyes would be closed.

Drawing back the curtain, he found his breath taken away at what he saw.

Maria had her face turned up to the jet, eyes closed as the water swept over her, hair streaming down her back. Her back arched forward, displaying her breasts, the running water dragged his gaze downward. Thor smiled, noting that her softest skin, bare to his eyes, remained smooth. Somehow, he figured out how this whole 'upright bath' thing worked.

How could he not join her? He drew back the curtain, stepping in and hissing as the extremely hot water hit his skin. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her in close as carefully as he could. Blood still flowed freely down her back and knees, plus a few cuts on her arms. Gently, the god took hold of her right arm and the first thing he found that looked like soap. Maria sneaked a look.

"That's gonna sting," she told him, scrunching her eyes shut again and her body going tense.

Thor smoothed the bar of soap over her skin, and sure enough, heard her suck in a hissing breath between her teeth. The suds slid over her skin, clearing the last of the alley's debris from the cuts on her arm. They bled still, but had started to ease up some. He took care of the other in the same fashion, feeling something in his chest tighten at watching her bite down on her lip.

However, the fact that he stood naked under flowing hot water with a very attractive mortal woman had not gone unnoticed. Maria stepped closer to him as his hands, slick with soap, slid up her arms to her shoulders. His length nudged her thigh and she blushed prettily, even with the bruise on her cheek. Her eyes remained closed. Tenderly, he let his hands come down from her shoulders to her breasts.

"Hmm…" she hummed, smiling sweetly. "_That feels so good…_"

Thor's fingers, callused from centuries of training with weapons, seemed soft and giving in the warm water. Maria squirmed, trying to maintain her balance. She could have leaned against the back wall of the shower… But she really didn't want to wreck the moment by yelping in pain. His hands were doing marvelous things to her.

"I have not yet begun…" his voice reached her ears through the water and her own sighs.

"_Please…_" she answered him, arching her back more and using her hands to guide his.

She led him up the sides of her throat, carefully at first. Then he took the lead and pulled her close. Ignoring everything that hurt, her shyness took precedence. She let her lips meet his. Her heart beat up in her ears, finally overpowering all her pain entirely. Thor's hands tangled in her wet hair, holding her against him. Their hips met and all of a sudden she broke the kiss.

Thor looked down at her in concern as she cowered away from him, wincing as her back hit the shower wall.

"What is it?"

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes – blood stained the wall where the hot-water jets couldn't reach.

"I shouldn't do this…"


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:**_** Not mine. Don't sue. Can really say this in a simpler way! Also, if you've come this far and not realized this is smutty… Well, I can't really say anything to you except go away. I kinda have to say that. Also, this chapter is a bit more cerebral. She's really not quite right in her head at this point, is she?  
**_

Chapter 5

Thor looked very wrong-footed. Where had that come from? She was away from the men who would hurt her and with someone who protected her. Yet here she was, trying to back away from him as far as she could. When he tried to reach out for her, she looked panicked. She looked very much like the frightened, bewildered young woman he had first seen in the harem.

"Maria, believe me…" He dropped his voice into his chest. "I mean you no harm."

She allowed him to touch her cheek – he had to ask her back in. Her blood smeared down the shower wall as her knees softened. Thor could not allow her to remain like this. Reassuring her, he slid his hands under her arms and lifted her up. Barely, she gave verbal protest. Had she gone limp in relaxation or just given up trying to resist anything that happened to her anymore? Well, he could deal with that in a moment. The wounds on her back needed cleaning.

The god looked down at the girl in his arms, her cheek resting against his chest, and at the state of her back. Maria shivered, finally allowing a small cry as Thor tried his best to be gentle. The soap stung like a motherfucker! And she could feel the last bits of grit and whatnot in her skin. She looked down and saw blood and soap suds on the shower floor. Feeling a wave of nausea wash over her, she closed her eyes and her knees went entirely weak.

Thor's arm easily held her up, while his opposite hand kept the soap going over her back. It was less difficult this way – she did not cry or squirm. Finally, with a decent later, he was able to lay the soap aside. Now, he could use his hand. Feeling the last of the alley's filth wash out of her skin, he spoke soft words of comfort in her ear, not even sure she could hear him.

"I swear to you, this night will only become better."

When he felt satisfied with the completion of his task, he carefully turned them both so that her back faced the running water. This time, she cried again – he could feel tears mingling with the water on his chest. A dam seemed to have broken within her and she cried inconsolably. Now, soothing her with words had become useless. She needed time.

Thor opened the shower curtain. Lifting Maria into his arms, he stepped out onto the cotton mat on the floor. She was so light that he could hold her in one arm, no trouble at all, while he reached down a towel from the rack. Barely able to support herself, she leaned heavily against his chest when he set her down. It was only for long enough to wrap the towel round her. Then she found herself back in his arms.

Opening the bathroom door, he stepped out, uncaring of the chill air in the room. Maria, on the other hand, started to shake. There was a blanket folded at the foot of the king-sized bed. So Thor laid her down upon it, taking the blanket and pulling it up to Maria's shoulders. She shifted fretfully, relaxing when he kissed her forehead and stroked her wet hair.

"I shall return," he told her in his softest voice.

She said something, but he couldn't tell what it was.

So Thor went back to the bathroom – he'd left the water on, so he might as well wash himself as well. He left the door open. The steam billowed out into the room at large. The hot water felt good against his skin after the cold room; he could tell why she liked it that way now. The soap felt fine as well – he had to run it through both hands a few times to remove the blood and glass.

Maria turned over on the bed, twisting both the blanket and the towel round her body. She was cold and she couldn't stand being cold. Had she imagined all that happened? No… parts of it were real. The horrible parts were real. She couldn't see how the good parts that followed could be real. Thor had come back… taken care of her…

She opened her eyes – okay, she could see that the whole 'she got herself to a hotel room' bit was real. She was damn proud of herself for having the presence of mind to do that. Get herself somewhere safe… Okay… if this hadn't all been real… Ugh. She curled in on her left side, pulling her arms in close to her chest and bending her knees only as far as she dared. The scrapes there stretched uncomfortably and she allowed herself a whimper.

Okay, why was the shower still going? She knew she had hit her head at some point in the alley, but it couldn't have been that bad, right? Twisting again, she tried to sit upright. It made her entire body throb, so she gave up on that particular endeavor. Breathing hard, she had to struggle to get her head back up on the pillow.

"What the hell happened to me?" she asked herself aloud.

Looking around the room by moving her eyes only, she took a deep breath and finally let herself cry… really cry.

* * *

Thor stepped out of the shower and grabbed another towel. Quickly fluffing his hair dry first, he then wrapped the towel around his waist. He pushed the knob back in, shutting off the water in the shower. With the echoing noise of the falling water gone, he heard it… the soft sound of Maria crying. This time, she hadn't even tried to stifle it.

He left the bathroom, still in only his towel. Then he found Maria, curled into as tight as she could manage on the bed and crying into her hands. After crossing the room, he knelt by the bed, leaning in close to her. His lips caressed unblemished skin on her exposed shoulder. One arm draped carefully over her body, his large hand covering both of hers. Gently, he pulled them away from her face.

"Tell me, my dear," he purred, feeling her shiver in his hold. "Why is it you weep this night?"

Maria only sobbed, her back bending forward – blood stained the towel. Thor slid his arms under her and shifted her carefully, sliding onto the bed beside her. The mortal woman cried as if her heart had broken. Her hands clutched at one of his. So tenderly, he rested his forehead against the back of her head.

"Nothing will hurt you tonight," he assured her. "You may open your eyes…"

She turned her head and he helped her turn over in the least painful way possible to face him. For a moment, the hazel-green eyes blinked uncertainly. Could she really believe the face she saw above her? One shaking hand reached up… Thor smiled warmly as her hand touched his cheek. Closing his eyes, he turned his head to kiss the palm of her hand. Maria gasped softly, her other hand coming to her chest.

"You have a question in your eyes," he observed. "Ask."

"Is this real?" whispered Maria, covering her mouth with her hand as if she had said something before she could stop herself.

The blue eyes she remembered, mostly from her dreams, softened and his lips curved up in a smile.

"It is."

A last, single tear rolled down Maria's cheek.

"_Oh…_" she sighed, her eyes half-closed. "Then… kiss me?"

His forehead rested on hers.

"As you wish."

Maria let out a harsh bark of laughter.

"Don't tell me you mean 'I love you'…" she snarled.

Thor looked confused.

"What was that?"

She shook her head, having forgotten he wouldn't get that reference.

"Nothing… just kiss me."

And his lips crashed down on hers – he couldn't hold back anymore. His hands tangled in her wet hair. Maria's hands rested on his chest, her tongue sliding forward to touch his. One strong hand slid down from her hair, caressing the curves of her body and resting on her bare hip. He helped her turn over to face him full-on. Fueled by mixed-up emotions, overheating from the shower, and his kiss, she shoved her lower body forward.

"So eager," he teased, tightening his hand on her hip. "You have lost none of the spirit I first saw in you."

One of her hands tangled in his hair. She lifted her knee as high as she could get it – she felt the scrapes stretch again. Blood stained the sheets. Thor could smell her blood… and for a warrior god, the smell of blood… Well. It was intoxicating. He growled and pulled her tight against him, his length sliding against her smoothest skin. She whimpered at her own movement, but couldn't stop writhing against him.

"Just make it stop…" she growled, grinding herself against him in a way that sent tremors up her spine. "Make it all leave my head."

Thor could hardly fail to indulge her. His hand tightened on her hip, aiding her in her movements. But she wasn't ready yet – he could still tell that much… Even with the combined lusts for blood and flesh taking over his body, he could wait. She clawed at his hair and chest. Her teeth nipped less than gently at his lower lip as she began to lose control. Second time, she bit down a little too hard, splitting his lip and spilling his blood into her mouth.

"If you crave blood tonight," he rumbled, turning so that he was very carefully on top of her. "You shall have it."

Her hand came down from his hair to scratch at his face as she had done before. Fingernails dug into his skin and she arched her back against the pain of her own body weight. More blood streaked the sheets. Lips and bodies pressed together, hands tangled together in hair… Then finally, she pulled back and looked up into his face.

"_This feels really good…_" Her voice dropped into her chest as it had in the alley. "Don't you dare stop."

Thor's eyes narrowed – he was nearing the mindset of battle. Maria's hands came down from his face, the fingernails not ceasing to bite into his skin. He felt the burn of the scratches over his shoulders and down his sides. Then her hands stopped at his hips, trying to pull him into her. But he held her off. Watching her push herself against him, watching her _need it_ did something to him.

"No, I shall not stop yet," he taunted her – fingernails bit his hips in retaliation, not quite enough to cause bleeding. "But you must wait for what you want."

He pulled her hips in close to his, letting her feel that which she wanted – she growled at him and arched her back.

"Don't make me wait," she all but ordered. "Let me have it before I change my mind."

Maria's eyes screamed desperation. Many emotions warred within her, he could tell. He smiled down at her as she continued to try pulling him down to her. Then he let her feel it again. Her hands tightened once more, her hips arching up to her, her lips – stained with his blood – spilling sounds of pleasure and pain. Still smiling, he bent his head to let his tongue trail over her lips. The tang of his own blood mingled with the sweetness he remembered from hers.

Still fighting his own lust for blood, Thor decided that, while he teased her, he could most definitely indulge himself a bit. His tongue continued twice more over her lips, drawing little mews and cries. He smiled as her hands clutched more desperately at his hips. This bed was not as comfortable as the one they had met on in Asgard… But it worked the same, so he braced his arm upon it and let his free hand explore her body. It went first to her breasts, one and then the other.

"Still so soft," he whispered to her, letting his breath – heavy with her blood and his, kiss her lips. "No goddess or mortal I have met to this day has… features that compare to yours."

And his hand cupped her right breast, working the ample flesh with his fingers. Maria squirmed, clenching her teeth so as not to let him have his way. But one did not discourage a god of Asgard so easily! His fingers found the sensitive little tip, rolling it between them. Her teeth ground into her lip for a moment, but he would not let up, pinching hard once just to elicit that sharp sound. Thor grinned, satisfied with himself, and repeated his action.

Maria's eyes blazed back at him, but he refused to be still. That same hand switched to her left breast, this time taking things more slowly. His fingers trailed slowly over the soft skin. Gently, he moved down her body, leaving bloodstained kisses down the side of her throat and along her collar bone. Somehow, even with how small she was compared with him, she held her own. Her chest rose and fell – she tried to maintain control over her breathing.

But then his lips closed round the tip, hardened by the chilly air in the room. She let out a soft, wavering cry and her hands traveled back up his sides. They came to rest on the backs of his shoulders. This time, her fingernails had a softer touch, barely dragging across the skin. Thor shivered, nipping her soft skin to get her back and causing her to yelp in surprise. When he looked up to be sure he had not hurt her, she gave him a sassy look.

"I take it you like that." His hand tightened on her breast, causing her eyes to widen, but her smile told him she had no fear. "I have never forgotten that spirit of yours."

The mortal woman beneath the god of thunder opened her mouth to say something snarky, but it died as his lips descended on her again. That one pinch had her totally sensitized, and he knew this. This time, Thor let his teeth find that little tip. Maria's hands tensed, her fingernails finding the perfect nerves in the skin of his shoulders. Then his tongue started on her. Long, slow strokes sent electricity through her skin, curling her toes and driving her teeth into her lip.

"Damn it!" she growled with a clenched jaw. "Fuck… Fuck me!"

Thor lifted his head, looking up at her face from inches above her chest. Those eyes he remembered so well seemed to gleam at him like angry jewels. His hand caressed her side, raising gooseflesh, and then trailed down to her hip. He kissed her breast one more time, grinning at her before moving lower. Kissing down her body, he felt her shiver…

When he looked up at her again, he saw tears on her face – he balked. This was not a reaction of intensity. Something looked like it was very wrong. The color had gone out of her face and her lips quivered. Maria's entire body started to shake. She had opened her eyes and seen blood on his face. Gently, carefully, Thor moved back up. For a long moment, he hid his face against her throat as she had done to him.

"There is nothing to fear," he reassured her, pressing kisses to the pulse point there – her heartbeat felt faint. Clearly, something had terrified her. "Hold on to me, for I shall let nothing harm you."

When he lifted his head, wide, unsettlingly frightened eyes gazed back at him – she looked as though she had viewed the face of Hel. Thor himself had met Hel. While she was pleasant enough in conversation, her grotesque appearance, half beautiful and half rotted, could stop the heart of a mortal in fear. Maria did not blink, only her lips shuddered. Was she ill?

"Please… _please_…" she begged him, staring at his eyes – he was not entirely sure that she could see him at this point. "Please stop… David you're my best friend!"

Ah, so that's what had happened… Something had triggered in her mind and taken her back to the alley. Thor was not sure how he had done that, or if he had. He simply wrapped his powerful arms around the small, twitching body and laid them down side by side on the bed. Maria continued to shiver against him, fighting her own fears inside her mind.

"Maria…" He had to try to get her back to herself. "Maria, it is I. Thor, god of thunder… There is no one here who could do you harm."

So she lifted his head to look at him again. This time, he saw the same look of vague recognition that she had given him in the alley. For her part, Maria felt something odd… It was as if magic itself had leaked into her brain. David and the other guys – they stopped existing. She wasn't by herself in a lonely Best Western in a strange place. He had come back to her. Thor, the God of Thunder himself, who had visited her before, had returned, as he said he would.

"It's real…" she breathed. Her eyes widened disquietingly. Thor's blue eyes met hers, smiling at her with the warmth she finally allowed herself to remember. "You're here."

Then she started to laugh – if he looked hard enough, he thought he might have seen the sound of her laugh become soft silver light.

"You're really here!" she exclaimed, all of a sudden euphoric. She sat up, watching him lay back on the bed. Forgetting about how much her skin hurt, how sore her joints remained, she pounced on him! "This is incredible!"

Thor couldn't help laughing with her as her slight weight collapsed against his chest.


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **_**You know this already – it isn't mine. This one's smutty too, so if you're underage, go read something else. I mean, I personally don't care but I have to tell you that.**_

Chapter 6

The two of them simply laughed together for a long while. Laughter only broke away when Maria brought her lips down on Thor's. For a moment, he could not move, not wanting to disturb the wounds on her back. But then he let his hands find her backside, gripping just tightly enough to get her attention. She pushed back against him, her hands stroking his face and neck tenderly.

Their hips moved against each other, with her once more grinding her smoothest skin against his length. He could feel her, so very wet against him, moving in ways that made even the heart of a god quicken its pace. She circled her hips, drawing a growling sound from his throat. Moans and excited noises seemed to bubble up from her like she was a giant soda.

Then Maria pulled back, looking down at the god one more time as if she had never seen him before.

"Now?" she asked, very deliberately pushing her hips against his.

Thor couldn't help but groan at this, pushing his body up – she lifted up in response, flexing her knees with no regard to pain.

"Now," he growled, his hands finding the significant dips in the sides of her waist.

And she let her knees relax, sinking onto his length slowly. She threw her head back with a deep, chest-based moan, her eyes rolling back in her head. Thor looked up at her with a wide smile on his face. He let his hips meet hers, the two of them echoing sounds of pleasure. His thick hands slid up to find her breasts again. She sighed as he rolled both little tips in his fingers. Then his tip found the place inside her that made her clench.

"Fuck… you're so good…" she rasped out, bending down to brace her hands on his shoulders and gazing at him through her eyelashes. "One more time…"

Thor simply _had_ to oblige. Still paying her breasts proper attention, he bucked his hips up, his tip making hard contact inside her. Maria's eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open, gasping. As she rode him, she moved one hand down to her lower body and groaned hard – she could _feel _him from the outside! Realizing this himself, the god took in a heavy breath and arched his back up.

Maria screamed, the sound tearing its way out of her throat so harshly she wondered if it might bleed. The occupants of the room next over smacked the wall. Before Thor could respond in consternation, the mortal woman hollered over her shoulder a solid "MIND YOUR OWN GODDAMN BUSINESS!" Then she turned back to the god… dare she think _her _god? Her hands found his shoulders again – this time she rested her forehead against his. Wet hair fell around them like a curtain. Thor looked up at her, watching her eyes burn with the same fire that he had seen the instant he first beheld her.

"Beautiful," he gasped, bending his knees so as to drive into her more solidly. "No creature, in Asgard or on Earth, has eyes like yours…"

Maria bared her teeth in the fiercest, most sexualized grin Thor could remember seeing in quite some time.

"Skip it, sweetie," she ordered, circling her hips to induce a shock of new sensations in his length. "Just fuck me…"

The great majority of the god's mind told him to listen to her. He wanted to give over to his battle-oriented, almost animal side. To turn them both over, pin her down, and drive his length into her body until they both fell… Satisfied… Sore… Both panting and dripping with blood and sweat… Normally, when that voice surfaced in his mind, there could be no silencing it.

And for a moment, he let that presence take over. He took her hands and, as carefully as his consciousness allowed, pulled her arms behind her back. For a moment, fear flashed in her eyes. But his smile, however predatory it might be, reminded her that this man… this god… might indeed hurt her! And she would enjoy it! But he would never, by his own promise, do her harm. She actually felt a kind of fear that thrilled her! One of his large hands held both of hers captive.

For a moment, she remained still… But then, she decided to struggle – what would it make him do? His smile widened, hand tightening on both her wrists. Their eyes met. Thor's grin widened – he barely expended any effort and Maria fought with everything she had to break the grip of one hand! She tossed her head back, ropes of wet hair swinging behind her. The god loosened his grip to let her think she might win. She gave a twist and nearly got herself free, baring her teeth at him as his hand tightened in an instant.

But then he stopped – stilled his hand and his hips. For a moment, Maria continued to squirm, to grind herself against him. She had started to clench inside, her eyes closed and her mouth open, gasping and moaning. Only his length throbbed inside her. Carefully, he opened his hand and allowed her hands to come to her sides. She then curled her arms in to her chest, shaking almost violently as orgasm tore its way through her body.

Thor watched this happen – the almost pained expression on her face, despite the smile on her lips, and the blush flaming in her skin. Nothing he had seen quite compared to this mortal woman's orgasm. It was different every time he saw it. Sometimes she screamed until he thought her throat would bleed. Other times, it seemed she hardly breathed. This time, he let her shake, the innermost muscles of her body squeezing him so hard…

The only similarity, he noticed, was that as fierce as her orgasm set upon her, it never lasted very long. Though her body still quivered, her spine went limp and her head dropped forward. So intense – she had to be one of the most intense humans he had ever met. And that was saying something! He even chuckled to himself, reaching up to her. Carefully, he lifted her off him.

Maria scrunched her nose. Thor's smile softened further. He laid her down tenderly beside him and got up from the bed. She made a very quiet _'huh?' _noise, but let him go on with whatever he intended to do. So he pulled the covers loose from the head of the bed. Immediately, Maria crawled under the covers and curled up, smiling at him. Stroking her hair, the god leaned in and kissed her cheek before turning and heading back to the bathroom.

With only one eye open, the mortal woman watched him go, producing a soft sound of confusion. But Thor knew what he was doing – he had seen a bottle marked 'lotion' in the bathroom. He located it quickly and exited, returning to Maria's side. She protested mildly as he pulled back the blankets from her.

"What're you doing?" she half-groaned, apparently having been very close to sleep even in the brief time that took. "Hrm?"

Thor sat carefully on the edge of the bed near her feet.

"You have been through battle tonight," he told her, flicking the top off the bottle – it went flying – and squeezing a little lotion into his palm. "And it is right to relax after a battle."

To prove his point, he smoothed the lotion over the swell of her right calf muscle. She squeaked at the initial cold on her skin. But it warmed quickly with the temperature of his hand. Maria could feel the giant knot that seemed to _be_ her calf muscle loosening up. His hands were just so damn strong… The firm up-and-down motion had her sighing in a different sort of pleasure. Then he came to her right foot and she thought she might come again!

If she didn't know better, she'd think he had some kind of fetish or something, from the care and attention he paid to her there. She hadn't even _realized _there was that much tension in her arch. Oh who was she kidding! Had she even known she _could _keep tension in the arch of her foot? And as for the underside… how the hell did a god know how to do this!

"Hmm…" she moaned softly. "_So… so good…_"

Then, as he switched over to her left calf, she tilted her head at him – her suspicious look lost a bit of its effect with wet hair and one eye closed.

"Why are you doing this, anyway?" she tried to demand, again with the disheveled appearance taking away her threat.

Thor smiled at her, cradling her heel in one palm and bending to place a kiss on her knee, coming away with a spot of blood on his lip.

"You need gentleness tonight," he told her simply. "And it is my intention to give you what you need."

With that, he let his lips follow the line of the front of her shin, giving light kisses as he went. Adjusting his position slightly, he pressed his lips to the bone of her ankle, briefly letting his tongue touch soft skin. Maria watched in stunned silence as this went on. He kissed her instep, looking up at her with such intensity in his eyes that she had to look away.

And he let her rest comfortably, lowering her shin back to the bed and allowing her to simply relax. She smiled at him with shining hazel-green eyes. Those same eyes widened as he moved up her body, coming to rest easily on top of her. Just earlier this night, this position had nearly sent her into panic. Now, as before – the first time – she felt as though there could be no safer place.

"If you will," rumbled Thor – the storm started to heat up outside, rain pelting the windows and thunder crashing. "Allow me to make love to you as a man should be proud to do."

At first, Maria's face paled – she had never had it put to her that way before! But then her cheeks turned pink with pleasure. Her hands guided him down so that she could press her lips to his. Whispering _'yes'_ over and over, she let her hands explore his whole body. First, they stroked the powerful lines of his neck and shoulders, following the muscles down his back. For only a moment, they remained on his hips where they had been, nails deliberately grazing skin. Then she ran those hands up and down his sides, feeling those muscles as well.

The fact that such a powerful being could treat her so gently blew her mind.

"You are clearly not delicate – the way you fight is proof enough of that," he told her, his lips by her ear as he let his weight rest lightly on her. "But to be treated with tenderness is something you do need."

Maria's heart fluttered, one hand coming to her chest. The corners of her lips turned up and her eyes shone with something new. She sat up, once more wincing – the skin on her back had started to close up. But when she reached out for him, Thor sat back, took her hands, and eased her back down. It was as if she just could not get it through her head that nothing had to hurt.

So he slid his hand behind her head, threading into her hair, and braced his arm against the bed. Then he shifted his knee so that he could move his hand down her body. He smiled, watching her face as he slid his hand between her legs – this was the first time she had looked relaxed while being touched. Sighing softly, she let her hips roll to his hand. It was as if streaks of warm lightning struck out all over her body from the place where he touched her.

She was close… but somehow not quite there yet. For his certainly limitless experience, he had somehow managed to… well… _miss_. Or maybe he was doing it on purpose – she couldn't tell. It felt fucking wonderful, but wouldn't bring her all the way over the edge. She growled… Thor looked down at her, grin firmly back in place. Oh yes, he was totally doing this on purpose!

"Being gentle does not mean I cannot tease you." This time he let his fingers find the right place, causing her to let out a soft moan. "It is sometimes best to be patient."

Maria raised an indignant eyebrow at him.

"Like you would know!" she retaliated.

"This is fair…" grumbled the god.

And he finally let her have what she wanted – his fingers touched her in exactly the right place, causing her sighs to speed up. She was so close, her back arched up off the bed and her fists tight in the blankets. Oh man… just a few more seconds and she would be there! Lights had started to pop in front of her eyes… but then he stopped again.

Thor didn't let her glare suspiciously at him but for a moment. His tip found her entrance, so wet from what he had done, and he slid inside of her. Immediately, her inner muscles clenched on him. Oh yes, he had brought her perfectly close. He had promised her gentleness, but now the tight heat of her body had him losing control as well.

Maria's hands slid up and down his back, fingernails just grazing his skin. Somehow, this sent electricity crackling through his skin in a different way than when she had scratched him to the point of bleeding. It felt as though every muscle piqued at this sort of touch. His shoulders tightened and he braced harder against the bed, biceps standing out in stark relief. And of course, he felt her fingernails there as well.

For her part, the mortal woman had managed to keep her wits about her quite well – this way, she could cement in her mind how this whole night felt. Thor was thick and hard inside her, pressing up against the place inside her once more. She saw stars, her eyes fixing open as he refused to let up on that place – if he was going to lose control so quickly, he would make sure she did as well! Their eyes closed, lips met, and bodies pressed together in a new way.

Maria couldn't help herself, wrapping her knees around the god's hips. Her eyes rolled back in her head at feeling perfect muscles under the skin against hers. She didn't even care when his hands found the backs of her shoulders, the pain just making her squirm. Their tongues tangled together and she started to lose track of what was really going on that point.

Lights and colors swirled in front of her eyes. Thor's eyes, barely open, were clouded with pleasure and sweat. Maria's eyes were smoothly closed, her lips parted and still stained red. Her skin had flushed brilliantly, from her cheeks down to her chest. With each breath, it seemed that she might be trying to say something. The two of them thrust against each other, passion and… perhaps a touch of something deeper, passing between them.

"Thor… oh my god… Fuck…"

It barely occurred to him that this might be the first time he had ever heard her use his name. His back arched up towards the ceiling, Maria's hands tightening on his shoulders. They were both so close. Then Maria arched her own back, pushing up and changing the angle. Her eyes shot open and she screamed very suddenly. Thor's entire body tightened inside and he let out a harsh growl, his insides getting hot. His hand… he tried not to hurt her, but it clenched in her hair – indeed, his entire body wound as tight as a spring.

Then it all let go.

Maria, panting harshly, could only buck and squirm as the god came inside her. For several minutes, it had to be, they remained that way, tight in each other's arms, gasping for air and sweating. Thor was first to move, shifting to the side before his body could insist that he collapse on her. Maria, grinning in a way he had never seen her manage before, turned on her side to face him.

"Dear fucking god, I love you," she drawled lazily. "That was great."

He stared at her in shock for a moment, but before he could sputter a response, her head hit the pillow.

"Mortal women are strange," he muttered to himself, but he smiled affectionately at her and pulled the covers over both of them. "Very, very strange indeed..."


	8. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **_**Still not mine. Never has been, never will be.**_

**Apology: **_**Really sorry for taking so long on this one! Some school-related stuff happened.**_

Chapter 7

The next morning, Maria woke up feeling a bit fuzzy in the head. She turned over to feel something very solid. That something had a thick, muscular arm wrapped around her chest. She smiled, closing her eyes again and snuggling back into the best feeling ever. Her companion made a soft grunting noise – she guessed her tangled hair tickled him. Then she felt him stirring.

So she turned over to face him. Then she wrinkled her nose as she was greeted by a giant yawn. Thor halfway sat up, looking down at the woman beside him – curled on her side, peeking back up at him from the pillow. Auburn hair swirled around her, covering most of her face and shoulder. Carefully, Thor lifted a hand and brushed the tangle away. Hazel-green eyes blinked at him.

"You look puzzled," he said, his voice still heavy from sleep. "Is anything troubling you?"

She tilted her head at him, still blinking owlishly. It was as if something about this entire morning didn't compute with her. Thor traced the lines and curves of her face carefully. For just a moment, he thought he saw sadness in Maria's eyes. But then they closed again and she shifted closer to him. His hand ran through her hair, tugging gently at a few knots. Her lips curved up in a smile.

Gently, the god turned her on her back, trying his best not to jar the cuts and scratches – she only protested mildly, groaning and swatting at uselessly at him. He stayed beside her, stretched out on his side and bracing with one arm. His face turned stony at the streaks of blood all over the sheets. But Maria had proved herself a strong woman. Whatever happened, she would find a way to be all right. She took in a deep breath and let out a long, sleepy sigh, yawning before relaxing again.

Thor could not help smiling. It was odd, how this one mortal woman could affect a god of Asgard like this. He swallowed hard, shifting almost uncomfortably – the last time, he had been able to walk away. Maria started to stir, the blanket falling away from her as she stretched her arms up. She winced, scrunching her nose at straightening her arms. Her eyes stayed half-closed, but she looked up at him, sitting up on her elbows.

"You stayed."

He smiled, nodding.

"Yes," he said. His voice came from deep in his chest. "Does this surprise you?"

The hazel-green eyes blinked curiously at him.

"You didn't last time," she stated, not accusing.

His smile fell away briefly.

"I make no excuses."

She smiled sadly.

"And you can't stay now, can you?" she stated more than asked, her voice so soft that it tugged at his immortal heart.

Her eyes searched his and he could only stare at the ugly carpet on the floor.

"I cannot lie."

When he could look at her again, he found that she did not look nearly as upset as he expected.

"Will I see you again?" she inquired, her voice almost brimming with hope.

His broad smile returned as quickly as it vanished.

"It is certain!"

Maria's smile turned wry, one eyebrow raised.

"I don't have to be in trouble again to see you, do I?" she asked ironically. "Cos I really don't do the whole 'damsel in distress' thing…"

They both laughed, though Thor looked a bit confused again – sometimes he really had no clue what she was talking about. He touched her face, still smiling. Maria's eyes still looked hopeful, trying to blink goopy mascara remnants out of her eyes. Hotel soap never got all of it. The god wiped a black streak from her face easily.

"Of course," he replied, wiping that same hand on the sheet before smoothing back her hair. "It is true I cannot stay here… but once a year, I can come."

Maria smiled, swiping at her eyes – she was_ so _not crying about this… Besides, it had to be check-out time soon anyway. She wished she had something to put on besides the dress she was wearing last night. But she got out of bed, wrapping a blanket around herself, and started to gather her clothing. She found her purse where she had dropped it by the dresser. Into it, she stuffed her garter belt and ruined stockings. Then she grabbed her dress and headed for the bathroom.

Thor watched her, seeing that she tried to conceal the distress on her face. Perhaps he should go… He wished there was something he could do. But Odin would be angry enough as it was when he returned to Asgard. He had interfered in Midgard with the full knowledge it was not his place. He looked out of the window at the city. Yes, he should go.

But then he heard a door open. Maria reappeared, her head high and shoulders back despite her clothing. The stains had soaked into her dress, blood and filth from the alley, but the way she carried herself… It fit any queen he had ever run across. She had not been able to entirely cover the massive bruise on her cheek, but it didn't matter. He had seen many warrior women in his time. But he could not read her face. For the first time, she had no expression.

"I… don't know how you're getting back," she said, her voice flat. "But you might want to get dressed. I need to go up front and check out."

She turned away and did not look at him after that, putting her black heels back on and hoisting her purse back onto her shoulder. Reaching out, she opened the door and stepped out, letting it close behind her. Taking a step to the side, she leaned against the hotel wall. She stopped being proud – her head dropped forward and she folded her arms across her front.

The god got the message – she had to protect herself from further damage, even from him. Heaving himself up out of bed, he located his clothing and armor quickly. He found his own face turning blank and inexpressive as he dressed almost mechanically. Finally, he affixed his cape round his shoulders and set his hammer back on his belt. Taking a last look around the room, he made a mental note to _tell _her before bringing her to Asgard next.

When the door swung open and Thor emerged, Maria quickly wiped her eyes. She had well and truly done enough crying. The god stood in front of her again, not allowing her to stare determinedly at his boots. He cradled her chin in one massive hand and tilted her face up to his. She set her jaw and sternly ordered the tears threatening to stay well the fuck put.

It didn't work.

"Do not cry," Thor rumbled.

That worked – Maria swallowed hard and, before she could say anything, his lips crashed down on hers. She dropped her purse with a rather deafening _thud_ and threw her arms around him. He wrapped his around her as well, lifting her off the floor and kissing her until she couldn't breathe. And when the two of them broke apart, her red in the face and him panting lightly, both smiled.

"You will see me again, this I promise," he whispered. "And we do have some time together… It would not be a good idea to open the Rainbow Bridge within a mortal's place of business."

Trying to make her brain stretch round that one, Maria giggled.

"Okay, I'll find you someplace," she told him. "Got a preference?"

He gave her a puzzled look – she was getting kind of used to it, actually. The god thought for a moment. Maria picked up her purse and started walking down the hall towards the elevator. Still thinking, the god followed. He looked around the elevator once more like he half expected it to explode. It lurched unpleasantly as Maria released the button and followed him on.

"I think somewhere open," he said, staring hard at the elevator door and willing, with all his power as a god, the blasted box to descend without incident. "If there is a field or forest, we shall not cause a disturbance."

The elevator _ding_ed and the door opened, all without pause. Maria stepped out of the elevator, adjusted her purse, and started fishing for her keys. She approached the front desk – the guy behind the counter looked at her funny. He seemed to be about to say something, presumably about her appearance, but a glance at the thunder got had him keeping his mouth shut. The transaction went without incident.

"Y'all… um… Have a good day!" the guy called after them as they went through the automatic doors.

* * *

They were on the road. Without the 'oh shit' handle, Thor clenched every muscle in his body as the car barreled along in traffic. Maria had turned on something in the vehicle that played music. A woman's voice erupted from the speakers, going on about never doing a good deed again. Maria looked very much like she wanted to explode right along with the music. The god of thunder looked round for something… anything in the car to grab onto.

"You okay?" Maria yelled over the music.

Thor could only nod – for the first time, he felt very much like he might be physically ill. The car almost seemed to move under its own power like one of that idiot Stark's creations. It seriously unnerved him that Maria spent seemingly very little time actively looking at the road in front of her. The song continued blasting from the speakers. He swallowed very hard, watching the city go by at an incredibly rapid pace. How long had they been driving now?

The city started to fade away. It turned into pine trees, lots of them, and chunks of granite sticking out of the ground. Maria rolled the windows down. The air back in the city had been hot and clingy, even first thing in the morning. Here, it felt lighter… somewhat crisp. Thor looked over at her, staring at the road like it had done her wrong, and stuck his head out the window. He felt much less like throwing up doing that.

Maria changed the music. It was the same woman singing – this time on about not being 'that girl', whatever that meant. It was an incredibly sad-sounding piece of music. And Maria sang along. Thor pulled his head back inside the car. It dawned upon him that he had never heard her sing. She had a lovely voice, but she obviously _felt _every word. The hand on the steering wheel gripped with white knuckles, her other arm propped in the open window. Her cheek, splotched obviously with makeup, had gone very pale.

But for once, he thought better of asking. It was probably best not to disturb her while inside this death-trap… After a few moments, she seemed to find the place she was looking for. Once more cutting across several lanes at too high a speed, she sped up the exit. There was a red light at the end of it and she cursed loudly as she slammed on her brakes. Thor grunted audibly as the car lurched heavily to a stop.

"Shouldn't be too much longer now," Maria informed him – he was able to relax, seeing how long the red light took. "Goddammit… These things take for-fucking-_ever!_"

No sooner had the light turned green then Maria gunned the engine and took them into a hard left towards more pine trees. After a few minutes, she turned off onto a smaller road, only two lanes. Thor looked out the window, watching some little furry animals bouncing about on the bottom of a tree. He started feeling ill again as the road turned bumpy. But Maria did not slow down by terribly much. The car rattled horribly – Thor stuck his head out the window again, feeling like he had been drinking for a week straight.

"We'll be there soon!" yelled Maria, staring straight out the front windshield.

The road was long, terribly winding, and seemed to go straight up in some places. Thor had one arm wrapped up over the roof of the car now. Maria seemed quite unconcerned, but now she kept looking out of the window. Then she slammed on the brake and the car screeched to a halt. The god's arm clenched reflexively, denting the car's ceiling. A most strange creature sat in the middle of the road.

Maria smacked the middle of the steering wheel, causing a blaring _honk _to erupt from under the hood of the car, but the creature did not move.

"Stupid fucking armadillo!" she shouted, leaning out of her own window. "Go on! Pain in the ass! Get off the road!"

And the creature shuffled forward. With it out of the way, Maria hit the gas again and the car advanced. They continued up several hills, the inclines growing ever steeper. Eventually, she made a harder right than any turn she had made thus far. They had just passed through the entrance of a labeled place, but he could not see the sign for the speed. Finally, she slowed down some, going down smaller, twisty roads.

"It's right up here," she told him. "Here…"

Then Maria pulled the car, surprisingly gently, into a parking space. She got out and stuck her purse in the back seat. With a jerk of her head, she indicated that he should follow her. Thor uncurled himself and half-tumbled out of the car. Then he stood up fully and shook his head. For as much as she interested him, he was never getting in a moving vehicle with her again!

She had taken off down a trail – he could only see her because of her dress. He covered that amount of ground easily, but could not quite catch up. But he understood. More than likely, she did not want to be caught up with at the moment. But about fifty yards ahead of him, she stopped. Beyond her, he could see a rocky creek with several small waterfalls. She couldn't seem to take her eyes off it. So he increased his pace, coming to stand beside her.

"I guess I'll see you then…" she said, in a voice hard and flat again. "So how does this work?"

Thor put a hand on her shoulder.

"I call on Heimdall and he opens the Rainbow Bridge…" he told her, unsure of how to make this less upsetting. "Beyond that, I cannot explain."

She turned around to face him. Thor could see the streaks on her face – she had obviously been crying the whole time she had walked ahead of him. He pulled her close, embracing her with heart. Maria took a deep breath, wanting to remember his scent in case she never saw him again. He smelled of that same incense she remembered from that one night. There were notes of sex and sweat from last night… and something else that she still couldn't name. Thor's arms held her so close and she heard him breathe deeply as well.

It was all she could do not to burst into tears when he pulled away. His face had turned hard and expressionless. Trying not to look her in the face, he stepped away so as not to accidentally take her with him. A trip through that kind of portal unprotected and unprepared could kill her. But she ran to him.

"Kiss me one more time?" she practically begged.

He couldn't think beyond that. All he could do was stand there, holding her close, and kiss her. Their tongues clashed. Hands traveled over lines and curves of both bodies, the two of them memorizing each other. He had to go. Maria knew this, but she couldn't let go yet. Moments more passed… But then he had to take her hands and pull her away from him.

"I must go," he told her, his voice having finally lost that self-assurance momentarily. "We will meet again."

Maria couldn't speak. If she opened her mouth, she knew she would just break down in hysterics. And she didn't want him to see her like that – seeing her like she was last night had been enough as it was. Thor pulled his hammer off his belt. Her eyes widened as she watched him raise it to the heavens. The sky darkened and clouds swirled overhead. Thunder rolled and lightning crackled, finally striking down to the metal head of the hammer.

"Heimdall!" roared the god's mightiest voice. "Open the Rainbow Bridge as the god Thor commands it!"

What happened next almost could not be believed, even with Maria standing barely twenty feet away. The sky seemed to open at a seam, sending down beams of multicolored light. Thor smiled at her before he was obscured almost entirely from view. Trees nearly blew down, with wind and rain thrashing the entire forest. But then, it was all gone as quickly as it appeared.

The whole thing happened in a flash, but to Maria it took hours.

And then she stood alone in the forest. The wind died away and the rain stopped. All she could hear was the creek for a long moment. Then squirrels ran through the tree branches again, chattering mindlessly. The birds started chirping and singing once more. Looking around, she saw no trace that anyone else had been out there with him.

When would she see him again? He was a god. What kind of guarantee did she have that she _would _ever see him again? But if he had come back to her once… And he had kept his promise this time. Now he had promised that they would see each other once a year. As for her… she hoped it'd be Christmas. No way would her mom complain about her bringing _him _home!

"I love you."


End file.
